RockyGrass festival puts Lyons 'on the map'

Festival time at the picturesque Planet Bluegrass. This view is to the southwest, with the St. Vrain Creek visible at bottom center.
(Planet Bluegrass/Courtesy photo)

The town of Lyons has an official population of about 2,000.

But during one weekend each summer, that total just about doubles thanks to RockyGrass, the annual bluegrass festival produced by Planet Bluegrass, whose campgrounds swell with 1,800 additional people. And that total doesn't include the many hundreds of single-day ticket holders who come to town and park, buy gas, pick up supplies and stroll the downtown streets.

RockyGrass, now in its 41st year, is Lyons' biggest event, and its impact reverberates throughout the year. Its draw helps some local businesses achieve their best annual weekend revenues.

Jerry Douglas is scheduled to perform at RockyGrass on Saturday, July 27.
(Planet Bluegrass/Courtesy photo)

Planet Bluegrass splits parking receipts with the town, and the money goes into local parks and recreation. People not from the Front Range who know about Lyons likely do so because of RockyGrass or Folks Festival, another annual event produced at the Planet Bluegrass ranch, located just northwest of downtown.

The festival is a source of deep pride for many Lyons residents, and it's wrapped into the town's identity in a way few events are in other communities.

"I think it's a great thing for the town," said LaVern Johnson, a lifetime Lyons resident who sits on the town's board of trustees. "It put the town on the map."

The 2013 RockyGrass festival is scheduled for July 26-28. The RockyGrass Academy, a bluegrass school that precedes the festival and will take place Sunday through Thursday, will bring hundreds of music students to town next week. The RockyGrass lineup features some of the country's premiere bluegrass artists, including Tim O'Brien, Del McCoury, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan. The event has been sold out since early March.

The Del McCoury is scheduled to perform at RockyGrass on Friday, July 26.
(Planet Bluegrass/Courtesy photo)

The festival creates economic opportunities for everyone in town.

Rossin said that, like many of her neighbors, she has rented her home to festival-goers during RockyGrass. The influx of people creates a roving customer base for vendors. Some property owners charge for parking.

Given the scale of the event, it inevitably creates disruptions.

Parking is perhaps the biggest issue. During the festival, Planet Bluegrass and the town arrange for a section of Bohn Park to be transformed into a parking lot with shuttle service. But the town's streets always fill up with cars, and Lyons has struggled with how best to curb festival parking on residential streets. Some homeowners put up "no parking" signs, but parking on public streets is legal. Some festival-goers park in private driveways.

"It happens to everyone," Johnson said.

She added, however, that RockyGrass fans are generally respectful of locals. And she's a festival-goer herself. She attends every year.

"When you're over there, you really have a good time," she said. "It's an entirely different world."

Brian Eyster first attended RockyGrass in 2000. He moved to the town the very next year. Now he's the communications director for Planet Bluegrass.

"I'm among that group that came for RockyGrass and fell in love with Lyons," he said. "I think a lot of people, just in our neighborhood, that was their introduction."

If a sizable portion of the town lives in Lyons as a very consequence of RockyGrass, it's no wonder there's such local pride in the event. In recent years, Lyons has developed a reputation as a hotbed of music, where no household is without a guitar or mandolin and informal jams are prone to pop up any time, anywhere. To the extent this is true, it stems in no small measure from the presence of Planet Bluegrass.

The Planet Bluegrass ranch distills the natural beauty that envelops the town. Red cliffs border it to the west, and the St. Vrain River gurgles past the stage to the north. Rustic structures dot the ranch, giving it a warm, intimate feel.

But sometimes you don't have to go to the ranch to enjoy RockyGrass -- not when you live several blocks away.

"I just sit on my back porch," Rossin said, "and listen to music at night."

An inner tube is a good way to enjoy RockyGrass, as Isobel Bonetti, of Boulder, right, and friend Maise Lapp, of Pennsylvania, discover during a ride down the St. Vrain River on the opening day of the 2012 event. (Greg Lindstrom/Times-Call)

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